Duct Tape Bracelets
by WriterAtHeart2
Summary: Gilan and Will decide to start a duct tape bracelet company. But when Halt refuses to buy one, Gilan forms a plan. A plan that's definitely considered evil.
1. Chapter 1

**Th****is is my fourth FanFiction. I got the idea from my own duct tape bracelet (my very kind friend gave it to me). I hope you like it, and please review! :) Tell me what you think of this story. Is it awsome? Boring? Weird? Good? Fantastic? Tell me in a review!**

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_Knock, knock. _Gilan knocked quietly on the door.

The door opened and a grim Ranger stepped out.

"Hello, Halt, could I see Will?" Gilan asked his former mentor.

Halt gave Gilan a suspicious look. "That depends. Why?"

Gilan smiled. "Well, you see, I was going to Redmont to buy some bread, and I was wondering if Will would like to come along. It's always good to have company now and then, you see."

Halt beckoned Gilan inside. "Will is in the kitchen."

Gilan found Will in the kitchen, half polishing his Saxe knife and half eavesdropping on Gilan and Halt's conversation.

"Eavesdropping is not good, you know," Gilan whispered in Will's ear.

"I'll go!" Will said, and he sprang up from his chair. Will knew that trips with Gilan were bound to be interesting.

Halt smiled at Will's enthusiasm. If only the young apprentice were that eager during training, they would accomplish a whole lot more…

"Please return before dinner, Gilan," Halt told Gilan.

"Of course." Gilan replied. "C'mon, Will, we mustn't waste any time…go saddle Tug up, all right?"

A few minutes later, Gilan and Will prepared to leave Halt's home. They waved good-bye to the Halt, and then set off to Redmont.

When they arrived at the village, something immediately caught both Rangers' eyes. There was a small stand selling colorful duct tape. Gilan and Will both rode over to the stand and the seller instantly started shouting sales and random discounts at the two Rangers.

"Buy one roll, get ten free!"

"This roll's ninety-nine percent off!"

The seller offered Gilan a mushy yellow roll of duct tape.

Gilan took one look at it and said with disgust, "No thank you, I think I'm looking for…ah, this one's perfect." Gilan picked out a neon pink roll of duct tape, so bright Will could've sworn his eyes would burn out if he stared at it for too long.

"Will, you can choose two rolls, just make sure not to choose from that pile over there, those colors are horribly ugly…and don't get anything too expensive…"

After Will had chosen a dark blue roll of duct tape and a zebra-print roll, Gilan told the young Ranger to wait at the stand while he went to buy some bread.

Will took the time to think. He thought about how peculiar it was that Gilan had bought duct tape.

After a few minutes, Gilan came back with fresh bread wrapped in almost-transparent paper. "Let's go," Gilan said simply.

The two Rangers rode toward Halt's house, but Gilan didn't let Will go just yet. "I need you for something else," Gilan told Will. "Follow me."

Will followed his friend. He was very confused.

Gilan led Will to a small field behind Halt's house. He took the three rolls of duct tape out.

"We're going to start a company," Gilan explained cheerfully.

"A…company?" Will said. He had no idea what kind of company they could start with duct tape.

"Yep. We're going to make duct tape bracelets!" Gilan said proudly. He paused, as if waiting for Will to applaud his smartness. "Well? What do you say? Are you going to help me?" Gilan said, after a moment of silence.

Will nodded slowly. "Sure," he said. "When are we going to start?"

"_Right now_, of course!" Gilan pulled a strip of duct tape off the roll. It made a loud screeching noise. Gilan flinched. He examined the strip closely, and then wrapped it in a circle, as if it were a giant tape roll, except inside out.

Then he pulled another strip of duct tape, cut it, and added it to the giant inside-out "tape roll". He repeated this several times until the bracelet was sturdy yet not to thick. Gilan put it on his wrist and modeled it for Will. Then he made another bracelet out of the zebra-print duct tape and offered it to Will.

Will stared at the bracelet. "Well…ah…thanks, Gilan." Will said, putting the bracelet on his wrist. It clashed terribly with his green-gray cloak.

Gilan grinned widely. "No problem, Will. Now get to work making more of these bracelets, we've got a business to start!"

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**Chapter two will be up soon! Keep checking...and of course, don't forget to review! :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two! Enjoy and don't forget to review! Hey, that rhymes...**

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Gilan and Will worked late into the afternoon, making a variety of colorful duct tape bracelets. Pretty soon, they had run out of duct tape.

"Now what?" asked Will, who was very grateful that they had run out of duct tape. Making one duct tape bracelet was fun, but making fifty in a row was mind-numbing.

Gilan didn't look one bit tired. He had a giant pile of bracelets in front of him. "Now," he said happily, "we sell them! Let's go to Halt's house first."

Will stood rooted to the spot. Had he heard correctly? They were going to _sell _the bracelets? This was absurd.

Gilan frowned. "C'mon, hurry up," he said. "We haven't got all day." He took off his cloak and spread it out on the ground. He picked the duct tape braclets and neatly piled them on top of the cloak. Then he wrapped it up and created a bundle that was portable.

The senior Ranger gestured to Will's pile. "You do the same," he instructed.

The younger Ranger sighed. This was going to be a long night. He hastily created the same bundle Gilan had made, and stuffed the duct tape bracelets inside it. Then he lifted it onto his shoulder and followed Gilan to Halt's house.

The two Rangers did rock paper scissors, and Gilan won. So Gilan knocked on Halt's door, and immediately a mad Halt appeared.

"I said _before _dinner!" he hissed. "You're almost an hour late! What took you so long?"

Will gave Gilan a look that said, _You explain. _

The older Ranger sighed. "You see, we've started a duct tape bracelet company. And we—"

Halt looked furious. "You've started a _duct-tape bracelet company?" _

"Well, I got the bread, too..."

"It was all Gilan's idea, I swear..." said Will.

Halt looked from Gilan to Will and back to Gilan again. "All right, all right, you've started a duct tape bracelet company. Now what the devil would you like me to do?"

Will and Gilan exchanged glances.

"Well, you could buy one of our bracelets." said Will.

"How much are the bracelets?" asked Halt. He was tired of this nonsense.

Since Will hadn't thought about that, Gilan answered Halt's question. "They're only one dollar each."

Halt paused, as if he were debating if the dollar was worth it. "In that case," Halt decided, " no thank you."

Gilan frowned. "I'll give it to you for fifty cents."

"No."

"You can have one for twenty five cents! And you'll get one free!" Gilan pleaded.

"No."

"You can have three for ten cents!"

"No."

It was obvious that Halt wasn't going to buy a duct tape bracelet. But Gilan wasn't ready to give up yet.

Halt closed the door.

Then Will gave Gilan a quizzical look. "_Now _what?"

"Well, we should pay our dear friends a visit." replied Gilan.

"You mean Alyss, Horace, and all those other people back at Redmont?" Will asked.

Gilan smiled. "Exactly."

Suddenly, the door opened again. "_No."_ came the voice of a furious Halt. "Will is _not _going back to Redmont today. Goodbye, Gilan."

Gilan sighed. "Tomorrow, then. At two o' clock tomorrow afternoon, all right, Will? Goodbye then," Gilan managed to say before Halt shut the door loudly.

Will groaned.

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**Review! REVIEW! REVIEW! Thanks to all of you that have. :) **


	3. Chapter 3

Gilan awoke the next morning, looking forward to a nice long day of selling duct tape bracelets. Personally, he thought that the idea of selling duct tape bracelets was one only a genius could've thought of. The money they earned would be spent on duct tape. It was a perfect plan.

At exactly two o' clock in the afternoon, Gilan knocked on Halt's door. He had his cloak-bag (full of bracelets) swung over his shoulder. Halt answered with a weary look on his face.

"Would you like to buy a duct tape bracelet?"

"No."

"Can I see Will?"

"He's in the kitchen again."

Gilan entered the house and found Will nowhere in sight. He looked at Halt.

"Don't look at me, he was here two minutes ago."

Gilan sighed. He knew exactly where Will was hiding. Behind the couch. Gilan took his time, whistling loudly, as if he had no idea where Will was hiding.

Behind the couch, Will was crouched over, crossing his fingers that Gilan wouldn't find him.

"Get. Out. From. Behind. The. Couch."

Will sighed. He stood up and brushed a dust particle off of his arm.

Gilan smiled. He was back to his cheerful self. "There you are, Will. Now why in Araluen would you hide from me? Never mind, we must get going. Goodbye, Halt. We'll be back around dinner."

"Make that _before _dinner," Halt said through gritted teeth.

"Whatever you say, Halt." said Gilan casually. "Come along now, Will. Go get your duct tape bracelets, I expect Alyss will be wanting tons of them!"

Gilan and Will prepared to depart minutes later. "Halt, you're _sure _you don't want to buy one?" Gilan called.

"Yes," Halt said coldly.

"But look at how nice they look!" Gilan held out his arm to model his bright pink duct tape bracelet. "Show Halt yours, Will." Gilan told Will.

Will reluctantly held out his arm and showed Halt the zebra print bracelet that he was wearing.

"Very stylish," Halt said sarcastically.

"Yes, I know." Gilan said. He grinned.

The two Rangers departed and started toward Castle Redmont where they would find their other friends.

They first visited the Battleschool, where they met up with Horace.

"Well, how nice to see you again." Horace said. "What brings you here?"

Will didn't answer so Gilan took charge. "Would you like to buy a duct tape bracelet?"

Horace's smile decreased slightly. "Sorry, didn't hear that. What did you say?"

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUY A DUCT TAPE BRACELET?" hollered Gilan.

Horace's hands immediately went up to his ears. "I'm not deaf, you know. What's this about a duct tape bracelet?"

"Gilan started a duct tape bracelet company and forced me to help him sell them. Would you like to buy one?" Will said dully.

Horace didn't want to be rude, so he said: "Er...yeah, sure. How much per bracelet?"

Gilan beamed at the Battleschool apprentice. "One dollar."

The Battleschool apprentice sighed and pulled out a crisp dollar and handed it to Will, but Gilan snatched it before Will could grab it.

"I'll keep the money, thank you very much," said Gilan.

Will frowned. "Then what's the point of working in your dumb company?"

Gilan considered the thought. "You'll get one fourth of the money we earn each day. Deal?"

"Deal." Though Will didn't think it was very fair, it was no use arguing.

After Horace had chosen a neon pink duct tape bracelet ("I told you, he got it because he saw how wonderful the color looks on me," said Gilan), the two Rangers went up to the kitchens to see if Jenny was there.

They spotted Jenny right away. "Jenny, do you have a minute?" asked Will.

Jenny smiled cheerfully. "Sure," she answered. "Hey, do you want some coffee?" The girl knew how much Rangers liked coffee.

"Yes, please," Will said gratefully.

"Actually," Gilan cut in, "Will doesn't want coffee. We don't have much time, I'm afraid."

Will frowned. Who didn't have time for coffee?

Jenny smiled. "Oh, that's okay. So why are you here?"

Once again, Gilan took charge. "Will and I—"

Will frowned again. "Actually,_ Gilan_ started the company and forced me to join."

"I didn't force you to join," corrected Gilan. "You said you wanted to help me. Anyway, would you like to buy one of our bracelets? They're one dollar each."

Jenny smiled. "Sure." She pulled out a fresh dollar. Then she chose the dark blue bracelet. "It reminds me of blueberries!" Jenny said happily.

"Thank you for buying," said Gilan.

Jenny waved good-bye, the dark blue bracelet flashing on her wrist.

The process went on for the next two hours. Gilan and Will sold a total of twenty bracelets. Some were sold to their friends, some were sold to strangers in the streets. Some customers bought more than one. That was the case with Alyss.

At four o' clock that night, Will and Gilan returned to Halt's home. Will was completely worn out from a long day of selling. His back ached from riding Tug all day. And his head was sore.

"And your money for today." Gilan said. He handed Will five dollars.

Will wearily accepted the five dollars. He was too tired to do anything but flop on the ground like a helpless worm.

The door opened and Halt appeared. Right away, Will stuffed the five dollars into Halt's hands and rushed inside, famished and tired.

Gilan smiled cheerfully. "Would you like to buy a bracelet?"

Halt still hadn't changed his mind. "My answer was no and it is still no. Now go away."

The door shut with a _SLAM. _

A frown replaced Gilan's smile.

It was time for Plan B.

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**Chapter 4 will be up soon...so keep checking! **


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, early in the morning, Gilan paid another visit to Halt and Will. Halt grumpily opened the door. He was even more grumpy to see that it was Gilan.

"Howdy Halt, can I see Will?"

"He's in the kitchen finishing up breakfast. Are you going to bother me every morning?" Halt grumbled.

"You bet," said Gilan. He grinned. He entered the house and greeted Will. "C'mon Will, we have a full day's work ahead of us!"

Will groaned. "When do I get a break?"

Gilan ignored Will and patted him on the back. "_We _won't be selling today, though. I've hired some people." A grin covered Gilan's face.

"What are you and I going to do then?" Will asked.

Gilan smiled. "You'll see. I have a plan all worked out."

Since Will and Gilan didn't need their horses, they set out on foot to the large grassy area near Halt's home. Waiting there, holding bags full of duct tape bracelets, were several people. Will recognized Crowley as one of them. The rest of the people Will didn't know.

Gilan greeted the group with a cheerful grin. Since Will didn't want to be rude, he did the same.

"All right, Will, here's the plan. These people here are going to knock on Halt's door to convince him to buy the duct tape bracelets. They'll go separately, so Halt won't get suspicious. And each person will knock at least five minutes apart. Got that?"

Will nodded. "What will we do?"

Gilan grinned. "We will be hiding in this tree." Gilan patted the tall tree that they were all standing under.

_That's easy enough,_ Will thought to himself.

Will and Gilan both climbed the towering tree and hid in the leafy upmost branches. Then Will let out a loud squeal.

"Shut up, Will! Halt's going to hear you!" Gilan whispered.

"It's not my fault! There's a spider!" shrieked Will. He flailed his arms and accidently hit Gilan on the nose.

"Ouch! Watch it!" Gilan flicked the spider off the branch. "There. Now shut up, will you?"

Will calmed down and watched as Crowley prepared to knock on Halt's door. He held his breath as the door opened and Halt appeared. The old friends started talking, but Will couldn't hear what they were saying. Will saw Crowley hold out his arm to show the duct tape bracelet that he was wearing, and then do some sort of catwalk as he modeled his bracelet. Halt said something and slammed the door shut.

Crowley came back, crestfallen, with no money in his hand. He made a gesture to Gilan that obviously meant _no luck. _

Gilan shook his head. "We're not giving up yet," he told Will. "We've still got a whole load of people. We've got to wait a few minutes, though. Halt might get suspicious."

Will, Gilan, and the group of people waited patiently for a few minutes to pass. Finally, a burly young man that Will didn't know prepared to knock on Halt's door.

Halt opened the door again and stared incredulously at the man.

The man gave Halt a giant hug and started acting like they were old friends. Halt made an impatient gesture to the man. Then the man took his bag full of duct tape bracelets and dumped all the bracelets onto Halt. Halt slipped on the duct tape, but he managed to get up and furiously slam the door shut.

The man came back and gave Gilan the same gesture that Crowley had done.

Gilan sighed. "Halt is one tough balloon," he said to himself. "No matter, we'll just keep sending people until Halt gives up." Gilan grinned.

It went on and on like this; each person knocking on Halt's door only to receive furious comments from the grizzled Ranger; each person gave Gilan the gesture and the process started all over again.

When the tenth person came back with the same gesture that said _no luck, _Gilan climbed down from the tree. Will followed suit.

"I'm afraid that this plan was a fail." Gilan said sadly. "You can all go now. The only person who needs to stay is Will."

Will groaned. _Why is it always me? _he thought dully.

Gilan gestured for Will to sit down as the others slowly departed, with disappointed looks on their faces.

Will let out a large sigh. "What now?"

"I have a Plan C. I'm_ positive_ it will work. Positive." Gilan replied with a confident smile.

"Positive?" Will raised his eyebrows. "And if it doesn't worki?"

Gilan grinned. "Then you'll be able to call me a doofus for the rest of my life."

Will smiled. "Sure. What's the plan?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Before you read this chapter, you might want to read my story The Ranger's Gift. Otherwise you won't understand some parts. **

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Gilan explained the plan. It was actually quite simple.

Will nodded to show that he understood the plan. "I'll go get the cloak." Will was referring to the cloak that he'd received for his birthday. The one that made him invisible.

Will went around the back. He was going to use the back door. Luckily, it was unlocked. He snuck into the house and quickly grabbed the cloak that was lying under his bed. Will dusted it off and then went outside.

Gilan saw him and smiled. Except, he wasn't really Gilan anymore. He had removed his cloak and was wearing a large cowboy hat that covered his eyes. He also wore a dark brown shirt and red pants. He'd even managed to get a fake mustache and was wearing it right now. He was totally transformed. Will could barely tell that it was Gilan under the disguise.

"How do I look?" asked Gilan.

Will grinned. "You look like you're not even you." Will knew that was the point.

"Cloak?" Gilan said.

Will nodded. "Check." He held up the snow white cloak.

"Duct tape?"

"Check." Will held up his cloak-bag full of duct tape rolls.

"Good. Put the cloak on." Gilan instructed. Gilan also had a bag that was bulging.

Will slipped the cloak on and he heard Gilan's voice:

"Follow me."

The apprentice followed the senior Ranger to Halt's front door.

Gilan knocked two times. Will saw Halt appear. Then he heard Gilan's disguised low, unGilan-ish voice:

"Coffee beans deliverer. Are you Mr. Halt O' Carrick?" Gilan grumbled.

Halt nodded, eyeing Gilan suspiciously.

Gilan sneezed. That was the cue for Will to enter Halt's home and do his job.

Will entered the house, unnoticed by Halt. It was time to do his part of the job.

Outside, Gilan was giving Will time to do his job. He was trying to keep Halt's attention away from his house. It was working, but not very well.

"Mr. Halt, I have the coffee beans you ordered." Gilan said in the low voice.

Halt frowned. "I didn't order any coffee beans."

"You must've forgotten, it says right here that you ordered these coffee beans." Gilan pointed to his clipboard. On it was a paper full of scribbles.

"Let me see that," Halt said. He tried to grab the clipboard.

"No can do, sir. I'm afraid...that...um...the deliveries are...um..private," Gilan stuttered.

Halt raised one eyebrow. "Really? Is that so?"

Gilan nodded. He hoped Will was just about done with his job. Gilan couldn't stall Halt much longer.

"Oh, no matter." Halt said. "I'll just take the coffee beans."

Gilan slowly gave Halt the bulging bag full of coffee beans. "Thank you for ordering, Mr. Halt."

With a small nod, Halt took the bag and closed the door. He was looking forward to some morning coffee. He decided that it would be good to try this new coffee that had just been randomly delivered to him.

Halt didn't pay much attention to anything except how good a nice cup of coffee would taste. He set the bag on the counter and opened it. Inside was not coffee beans, but...

"DUCT TAPE BRACELETS!" Halt shouted furiously. The coffee beans deliverer had delivered him duct tape bracelets! Immediately he knew that he'd been tricked. He'd been tricked by Gilan. Halt cursed as he threw the duct tape bracelets in the garbage. He turned around to find his real bag of coffee beans, and his eyes were drawn to the walls of his house.

There were colorful strips of duct tape stuck all over the wall. There was even some duct tape stuck on the ceiling. The strips formed crazy patterns, and whoever had done this had even managed to form an _H_ and an _I _with the duct tape, so that there was a giant "HI" staring back at him.

Halt cursed again. He should have known. It was Gilan and Will all along.

Outside, Gilan and Will were laughing their heads off.

"You did your job pretty well," Gilan managed to say through fits of laughter. "You definitely made Halt angry."

Will giggled. "I sure did. Your plan was a good one."

Unexpectedly, the door opened. Halt stepped out. He was furious.

"However good you think your silly little plan was, it didn't work. I'm not buying a duct tape bracelet." Halt shouted.

Will grinned. "Doofus." he told Gilan.

THE END

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**I hoped you liked this silly story. Please reivew! Thanks. :) **


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